The Genus Leiomyza Macquart, 1835 in Norway (Diptera, Asteiidae)

The genus Leiomyza Macquart, 1835 in Norway (Diptera, Asteiidae)

GUNNAR MIKALSEN KVIFTE

Kvifte, G.M. 2013. The genus Leiomyza Macquart, 1835 in Norway (Diptera, Asteiidae). Norwegian Journal of Entomology 60, 62–64.

One male and two females of Leiomyza curvinervis (Zetterstedt, 1838) have been recorded from two localities in Finnmark, and a single male of Leiomyza dudai Sabrosky, 1956 from one locality in Ringsaker, Hedmark. These records represent the first findings of this genus in Norway. The identification and biology of the family Asteiidae and the genusLeiomyza are briefly commented on.

Key words: Diptera, Asteiidae, Leiomyza, Leiomyza curvinervis, Leiomyza dudai, faunistics.

Gunnar Mikalsen Kvifte, Department of Entomology, Bergen University Museum, P.O. Box 7800, University of Bergen, 5020 Bergen, Norway. E-mail: [email protected]

Introduction subcosta incomplete and M1 concave (e.g. Figure 1). In the genera Asteia Meigen, 1830, Astiosoma The Asteiidae are a group of small to minute Duda, 1927 and Phlebosotera Duda, 1927, vein acalyptrate Diptera found in all biogeographical R2+3 terminates very close to the base of the wing; regions except Antarctica. More than 100 species Leiomyza is atypical in having it closer to the wing have been described in two subfamilies; however apex (Merz 1996). Nine species of Leiomyza have the family’s diversity is underestimated and poorly been described and five of them are known from studied. About 20 species in four genera occur in Europe (Gibbs & Papp 2006). Europe (Oosterbroek 2006). The Norwegian fauna of Asteiidae has What little is known of the biology of apparently not been studied at all; as no species asteiids suggests that they are diverse generalist are listed by Papp (1984) or Carles-Tolra (2012). saprophages or phytophages. Larvae of several The family was first published from Norway by species have been found in or reared from such Gammelmo & Søli (2011), who recorded Asteia diverse habitats as tree bark, floral inflorescences, amoena Meigen, 1830 from three localities in phloem, rotting or dry organic matter and fungal Akershus and Aust-Agder. Further Asteia species fruit bodies (Papp 1998, Oosterbroek 2006). are present in the Natural History Museum, Oslo; Leiomyza Macquart, 1835 are generally thought however this material has not yet been published to be fungivorous in their larval stage (e.g. Papp (G. Søli, pers.comm.) The present paper gives the 1984, Chandler 1978); however Sidorenko & first account of the genusLeiomyza from Norway. Shedko (2010) recorded Leiomyza scathophagina (Fallén, 1823) as a facultative myiasis parasite of Amur sturgeon Acipenser schrenckii. Material and methods Asteiids are most easily recognized on their characteristic wing venation, with crossvein Most of the specimens were collected in Malaise BM-Cu and cell cup absent, a continuous costa, traps as part of the project “Insects inhabiting

62 Norwegian Journal of Entomology 60, 62–64 (2013)

FIGURE 1. Leiomyza curvinervis (Zetterstedt, 1838) female from Alta, Gargia. freshwater and humid habitats in Finnmark, (Malaise-trap), FØ, Sør-Varanger: Sametijohka northern Norway”, funded by the Norwegian at Sameti (69.40106°N, 29.71923°E), 1♀, Taxonomy Initiative (Artsdatabanken). For details 24.VI–20.VII.2010, 1♀, 20–30.VII.2010, leg. of this project, see Ekrem et al. (2012). The present Finnmarksprosjektet (Malaise-trap). paper is the fifth contribution dealing with Diptera Remarks. The knobs of the halteres of most from this material. Other Leiomyza material was Leiomyza are brown; however in L. curvinervis found in partially sorted Malaise trap material and L. scathophagina they are yellow. These two in the magazines in Bergen Museum. All the species can be separated on several characters recorded specimens are deposited in the Natural according to Merz (1996) and Beuk (2012): History Collections, the University Museum of Leiomyza curvinervis (Zetterstedt, 1838) is Bergen, registration numbers A49642-A49643. characterised by its yellowish to red-brown face, Identification is according to Merz (1996), the distance between the dorsocentral setae and Gibbs & Papp (2006) and Beuk (2012). the scutellum being shorter than the length of the dorsocentral setae and the cerci with setae reaching tip of surstyli. Leiomyza scathophagina New records (Fallén, 1823), on the other hand has face black to dark brown, distance between dorsocentral setae Leiomyza curvinervis (Zetterstedt, 1838) and scutellum longer than length of dorsocentral Material. FI, Alta: Gargiaelven near Gargia setae and cerci with setae not reaching tip of Fjellstue (69.80525°N, 23.48937°E), 1♂1♀, surstylus. 23.VII–7.VIII.2010, leg. Finnmarksprosjektet Leiomyza curvinervis was described from

63 Kvifte: The genus Leiomyza (Diptera, Asteiidae) in Norway

Umeå, Northern Sweden, and has been recorded Ekrem, T., Roth, S., Andersen, T., Stur, E., Søli, G. & from Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Halvorsen, G.A. 2012. Insects inhabiting freshwater Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the and humid habitats in Finnmark, northern Norway. USA (Papp 1984, Gibbs & Papp 2006). Norwegian Journal of Entomology 59, 91–107. Gammelmo, Ø. & Søli, G. 2011. Notes on new and interesting Diptera from Norway. Norwegian Leiomyza dudai Sabrosky, 1956 Journal of Entomology 58, 189–195. Material. HES, Ringsaker: Furnes, Sandvold Gibbs, D. & Papp, L. 2006. A review of the Holarctic Hamnehage (60.840°N, 11.021°E), 1♂, VI.1992, species of Leiomyza Macquart, 1835 (Diptera: leg. G. Bakkerud (Malaise trap). Asteiidae) with descriptions of two new species. Remarks. Leiomyza dudai is the only Studia Dipterologica 13, 241–248. European Leiomyza species with both a brown- Merz, B. 1996. Die Asteiidae (Diptera) der Schweiz. knobbed haltere and the dorsocentral setae Revue Suisse de Zoologie 103, 893–904. further from the scutellum than the length of the Oosterbroek, P. 2006. The European Families of the dorsocentral seta itself. Merz (1996) further cites Diptera. Identification, diagnosis, biology. KNNV the incurved inner process of the surstylus in the Publishing, Utrecht. male as a very good diagnostic character (see e.g. Papp, L. 1984. Family Asteiidae. Pp. 63–66 in Soós, Á & Papp, L. (Eds) Catalogue of Palearctic Diptera. Gibbs & Papp 2006, Figures 6, 18). Volume 10. Clusiidae–Chloropidae. Akadémiai According to Gibbs & Papp (2006) L. dudai is Kiadó, Budapest. known from Austria, the British Isles, the Czech Papp, L. 1998. Family Asteiidae. Pp. 295–303 in Papp, Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, L. & Darvas, B. (Eds) Contributions to a Manual Italy, Poland, Russia (including the Asian part), of Palearctic Diptera, Volume 3. Science Herald, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Budapest. Sidorenko, V. S. & Shedko, M. B. 2010. The case of facultative myiasis by Leiomyza scathophagina Acknowledgements. Katrine Kongshavn, Bergen, offered (Diptera: Asteiidae) of Amur sturgeon (Acipenser valuable advice and technical help in producing the schrenckii). Far Eastern Entomologist 209, 6–8. illustration. David Gibbs, Bristol, kindly supplied me with important literature, and Øivind Gammelmo and Geir Søli, Received: 18 March 2012 Oslo, provided useful information on Norwegian Asteiidae Accepted: 5 April 2013 in the collections in their care. Geir Søli further provided useful comments on an earlier version on the manuscript. This study was funded by a grant from the Norwegian Taxonomy Initiative.

References

Beuk, P. 2012. Key to the Asteiidae of North Western Europe and the West Palearctic (Diptera). [Online]. Available from http://www.online-keys. net/infusions/keys/keys_view.php?key_no=6. (Accessed 12.03.2013). Carles-Tolra, M. 2012. Asteiidae. In: Pape, T. & Beuk, P. (Eds) Fauna Europaea: Diptera: Brachycera. Fauna Europaea version 2.5, Available from www. faunaeur.org. (Accessed 12.03.2013). Chandler, P. J. 1978. A revision of the British Asteiidae (Diptera) including two additions to the British list. Proceedings of the British Entomological and Natural History Society 11, 23–34.